FAZ unearths tickets scam

By FELIX MALUNGA THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has uncovered a syndicate where some unscrupulous people printed counterfeit VIP car parking stickers which were sold during last weekend’s FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifier against Sudan in Ndola. Two members of the FAZ match organising committee allegedly involved in the scam have since been suspended, pending investigations. According to Football House insiders, FAZ discovered fake parallel car stickers which were being sold at KR50 to desperate fans, who wanted to park their vehicles in the VIP slots outside the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. The sources said FAZ does not sell car stickers but these crafty individuals took advantage of the scarcity of the VIP stickers which they even sold to some corporate institutions. “We discovered some parallel fake car stickers for the VIP parking area which were being sold at KR50. FAZ doesn’t sell car stickers but these (crooked people) took advantage of the scarcity of car stickers and sold to even corporate organisations,” a source said. After the matter was brought to the attention of the FAZ match-organising committee, the association decided to banish two members who were linked to the scandal, pending investigations. But FAZ communications and media manager, Erick Mwanza said he was aware of the scam but was yet to be furnished with more details. “Yes I heard some people were cashing in on complimentary car stickers but I am yet to get more details,” Mwanza said in Lusaka yesterday. And the sources also said FAZ discovered other anomalies where some few tickets bore the same seat number and the association attributed this to print errors. A few cases of some people clashing over seats were reported where the fans mostly men had to surrender the seats for women. During the run-up to the weekend’s match, there was scramble for tickets, especially for lower denominations at various Zampost outlets in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. However, on Saturday, some tickets resurfaced on the black market and were being sold at exorbitant prizes and panicky fans still had to buy to avoid m